


知人知面不知心

by saintsblade



Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Enderwalking Ranboo (Video Blogging RPF), Founding of L'Manberg | L'Manburg on Dream Team SMP (Video Blogging RPF), L'Manberg War of Independence on Dream Team SMP (Video Blogging RPF), L'Manberg | L'Manburg on Dream Team SMP (Video Blogging RPF), Other, Piglin Hybrid Technoblade (Video Blogging RPF), Pre-Founding of L'Manberg | L'Manburg on Dream Team SMP (Video Blogging RPF), Raccoon Hybrid TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF), Time Travel Fix-It, Winged Phil Watson (Video Blogging RPF), btw sorry if tommy seems like, depictions of violence are game-typical, enderwalk shenanigans about to hit you REAL hard, extra calm, i just dont like cursing in my writing a lot, if anything is triggering though ill tag it beforehand, ill add tags as they become relevant, no spoilers here smile, so how about that enderwalk ARG he started today
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-16
Updated: 2021-03-24
Packaged: 2021-03-25 10:55:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,940
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30088044
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/saintsblade/pseuds/saintsblade
Summary: Imagine this: L'manburg standing tall and free; citizens coming and going as they please; the one with no eyes had no need to deceive; and each child soldier can finally be young and naïve.Ranboo goes back in time after an enderwalking accident. The fate of L'manburg and its two glittering discs now rests on him.
Relationships: Clay | Dream & Ranboo (Video Blogging RPF), Ranboo & Toby Smith | Tubbo, Ranboo & Toby Smith | Tubbo & TommyInnit, Ranboo & TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 72





	1. book

**Author's Note:**

> rubs hands together. this is gonna be my first long fic in a while, and im making the executive decision to actually post chapters weekly instead of trying to write it all and post it at intervals. hope yall enjoy :]
> 
> find me on [twitter!](https://twitter.com/saintsbiade)

> _知人知面不知心_
> 
> _Zhī rén zhī miàn bù zhī xīn_
> 
> Know the face, but not the heart.
> 
> Ranboo goes back to the start. History is a tale told in three parts.

When Ranboo woke up in a familiar snowy taiga, he was expecting to see a lovely little spruce cottage, hear the din of dogs, and, if he was lucky enough, catch Phil or Technoblade for dinner. Instead, in front of him was only blinding, uninterrupted whiteness and half-an-inch foot snow, far less than what it ought to be at. He turned around, almost afraid, and was numb when he realized his house no longer stood against the enclave of the mountain from both cold and confusion. What happened? How did he get here? Where did the houses go? Sure, Technoblade and Phil were both strong and skilled enough to tear down their homes and leave at any moment's notice, with diligence and militant strength like the ancient Romans, but why would Ranboo’s house have been removed without his consent? Surely he would have remembered if they had decided to move; regardless, if Technoblade and Phil were even ever planning to move, they would have started preparing a long, long time ago. Surely they wouldn’t have left him out of the equation. That meant, he concluded, that this, no matter how similar it was to his home, was not the same taiga. 

That left only one option, and he didn’t like it quite much: enderwalking. What was his other face doing, to have wandered out into the snow like this? He still carried his weapons and armor, at least, and his precious memory book. Cautiously, he flipped through its pages: nothing, of course. He had never written anything down in his enderwalk state. He slipped the memory book back into his inventory. Thankfully, his armor kept him warm and the water away, and he had a few more seconds to ponder his next course of action. 

There was nothing left to do but head back to the main city, he realized. If Phil or Technoblade were going to look for him, they were not going to come back here, not when it was freezing cold and a blizzard was slated to happen at any time. Regardless, he was running out of food to eat, and his armor couldn’t protect him forever from the cold. Hastily, he headed over the hill in the direction of the portal which would connect them to the hub, if this was his home.

There was nothing there. Of course, Ranboo thought dully, if Phil and Technoblade intended to move away, which it really seemed like they had, they wouldn’t have wanted anyone to follow again like the last time. To the nearby village, then. At least he could trade his vast sums of emeralds, stored in his Ender Chest, for food, and maybe pay the carpenter for a better boat. 

As he got closer to the village, the snow started the drift down more slowly, and he felt ever-so-slightly warmer. He had rarely come by the village, maybe only once or twice, and always with Technoblade, so he didn’t pay too much heed when they didn’t discount their prices like they typically would. It was fine, anyway. He had plenty of emeralds. With a grateful bow to the carpenter, who looked distressed at the shoddy job that Ranboo had initially done, he set out and headed toward L’manhole. The presence of the village confirmed it for him: this was not some random taiga. This was his home. Again, he asked himself: what could have happened?

The trip was longer than he remembered, but that was likely because he hadn’t taken the ocean route in a while and he was typically talking to someone when he took it. The ocean route reminded him of the Butcher Army’s unsuccessful attempt to execute Technoblade, anyway, so Ranboo shuddered and tried to row faster. Water sprayed at his unprotected face, and he flinched every time a drop landed on him. It was still better than waiting out in the snow alone or with the villagers. 

With a sigh, he docked at a familiar shore and raised his head up to look at his surroundings. A growing feeling of dread pooled in his stomach when the looming prison was nowhere to be found in front of him, nor were Eret’s towers or castle visible. There was simply no way the prison of all buildings had disappeared. Breaking it down was already an issue in itself - unless somebody had forced the whole SMP together to destroy the thing, there was simply no way it had disappeared. Even then, Ranboo wondered helplessly, even if the elder guardian had been killed so that mining fatigue effect no longer slowed their movements, destroying the entire prison that Sam and Dream had spent literal months planning and building could not have happened in the span of a day. Or had it been a day? Ranboo wasn’t sure. He hadn’t ever enderwalked for more than a day, he thought, but even that was a statistic he was unsure of. He generally didn’t even remember when or if he enderwalked regardless, and, well, Ranboo was not one to place high hopes on broken memories. With a shaky breath, he scurried down to the community house and immediately stopped dead in his tracks.

That wasn’t the community house. This ugly brick building with no windows and a cobblestone floor couldn’t be the community house. His community house - _their community house_ \- was beautiful and welcoming, with vibrant pots of plants resting on the sills of opened windows and a mini coral reef under the water. The floor was crafting tables and a bamboo forest clouded out the sky in the general vicinity. There was none of that there, only a pitiful few stalks of the fast-growing plant obscuring his view. Ranboo sank to his knees, his hand tight around the hilt of Blockbeard’s Sword. He was so lost in his terror and confusion that he didn’t notice the footsteps that cautiously approached.

“Hey —” A voice started, and with an inhuman screech, Ranboo scrambled to his feet and pointed his sword at the stranger. Ice settled in his veins as he realized the person in front of him wore a bright green hoodie, fingerless black gloves, and that stupid, porcelain, smiling mask. 

“Why are you here,” he hissed, tail lashing about. Dream pushed his mask aside, revealing worried green eyes. Ranboo startled, stepping back. Dream had never shown his face to anybody. But if this wasn’t Dream, who could it be?

“What — I should ask you that question,” the admin’s eyes flickered from his tail, to his sword, and then his face. Ranboo shifted eye contact. “Who are you? How did you get on this server? It’s whitelisted only. Something tells me you aren’t a dirty hacker, though,” he laughed awkwardly.

“Stop messing with my head,” Ranboo whispered furiously, unwilling to believe that this was truly Dream. “Stop - you - you - where are Phil and Technoblade? Where’s my house? The prison? What happened to Eret’s castle?” With some difficulty, Ranboo straightened himself into his fighting stance. The Not-Dream blinked and raised his hands in a pose of surrender, a nervous grin on his face.

“Um, can we put the sword away? We, uh, we try to keep it peaceful, so…” With a strangled laugh, Ranboo’s eyes blazed.

“Peaceful? You? You destroyed everything,” he snarled, hands shaking. “You - you killed Tommy for good! And for what? Some stupid _discs_?” At that, Not-Dream recoiled, confusion and anger flashing in his eyes. 

“Hey, man, I don’t think you got the right guy here,” Not-Dream rumbled. “I wouldn’t ever kill a kid unless it was respawn-safe, which you’re really not making it seem like right now.” He slowly backed away from the Community House. “I don’t think you’re in a correct state of mind right now. Sapnap?”

Before Ranboo could even finish processing what he’d said, something - some _one_ \- delivered a heavy blow to the back of his head, and he crumpled forwards, dark invading his vision instantly.


	2. precious

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ranboo makes some conclusions. No more running away.

He woke up in an unfamiliar room. His head spun and his vision spotted, and a careful touch at the back of his head told him his hair was matted with a little bit of blood.

“You’re awake. Sorry about hitting you so hard,” someone said sheepishly. Ranboo blearily looked up.

“Sapnap,” he mumbled.

“That’s me,” the tan man cheerfully sat down next to Ranboo, patting the pillow. “I think you should lie down a little longer, kid. We couldn’t give you the regen potions while you were asleep since we didn’t wanna choke you.”

“Thank you,” Ranboo murmured, allowing himself to be laid back down. “I’m sorry.”

“For what?” The older man gave him a strange look. 

Ranboo struggled to reply, and at that moment, Dream strode into the room. His mask was off and he was wearing a simple black top, his striking green hoodie tied around his waist, but something in Ranboo shuddered and he physically recoiled, hiding as small as he could under the blanket and into the pillow. He didn’t look up, not when the footsteps receded, not when the door closed quietly behind him, not until Sapnap gently patted him on the shoulder and told him Dream was gone.

“It’s alright,” Sapnap murmured. “He’s not in the room. I can tell him to stay away from you for a while, if you’d like,” he offered. Numbly, Ranboo nodded. Sapnap typed a few words into his communicator and then put it down and away. “So...yeah, I’m not really the best at words, but...uh - what is your name, actually?”

Ranboo paused. The Sapnap he knew knew his name. They had gone on the pirate adventure together, the sword Ranboo wielded physical proof of it. As woozy as he still was, he knew that whoever he saw in front of him now was not the same one he had been with about a month prior.

“I, uh, I’m Ranboo. Or you can say it Rawnboo. Either one’s fine. Did we ever go on a pirate adventure with each other?” he listlessly said, trying to catalogue his ideas and facts. Sapnap seemed to still think he was delirious, because he got a health potion from his inventory and popped the top open. 

“I don’t think so, Ranboo. Drink this for me, if you would,” the brunette held out the bottle, which Ranboo drank with no complaint. Already the fog in his head was lessening as the fruity aftertaste lingered on his tongue. “Get some rest, man. You were in pretty bad shape, even before I may have accidentally given you a concussion,” he chuckled apologetically. 

“Ok,” Ranboo yawned and snuggled into the blankets, listening as Sapnap left. After a few minutes, he sat up and scanned the room quickly - his armor and Blockbeard’s Sword were nicely kept on an armor stand and a sheathe hanging by the windows. He opened his inventory, relieved to find his Ender Chest and his memory book still snugly inside. He retrieved the memory book and its quill and ink, shakily beginning to write.

> _ Unknown date. _
> 
> _ I woke up at home but everything was gone. I even boated all the way to the central city, but it’s so small and not at all like anything it should look like. The community house is so small and the floors are made of cobblestone, and the prison is simply gone. Dream revealed his face to me, and Sapnap doesn’t know who I am. _
> 
> _ I think… _

He paused in his scratching for a moment before grimacing.

> _ I think I might have somehow enderwalked back in time. How else would I have gotten here without remembering? Maybe I encountered a glitch while I was enderwalking, or...I don’t know. Thinking about it makes my head ache and my stomach churn. _
> 
> _ I have to be careful. One wrong move and I could mess everything up again. I think I’ll ask Sapnap to watch out for me. Just in case I start enderwalking again. _

With that, he slid the book back into his inventory and drifted off into a heavy, dreamless sleep.

He was awoken a few hours later when Sapnap came by with a steaming dish of something delicious in his hands. The smell permeated the room and made Ranboo salivate. The last time he had eaten something was...when was the last time he’d eaten?

“Hey, I brought you dinner.” Sapnap nudged the door open and walked over, placing the dish on the bedside table. “Feeling better?”

“Much,” Ranboo agreed, eyes straying to the plate. “Did you make this?”

“Oh, I - er...Dream did,” Sapnap awkwardly smiled. “I can’t cook for crap. He wanted to apologize for freaking you out. I swear it’s not poisoned or anything. I can even eat a bite of it if you want me to prove it.”

“That’s okay, I’ll eat it,” Ranboo quickly shook his head. “Sorry to be a burden. It - it isn’t his fault, it’s my own for lashing out like that. He just...reminds me of someone who…” He inhaled sharply and Sapnap placed a cautious hand on his shoulder.

“It’s alright. You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to. And I don’t know if this helps, but I promise you that Dream is a really good guy. He’s one of my oldest friends - we’ve known each other since we were kids, we grew up in the same home world. I swear that he would never cause someone’s permadeath unless they were a bad person.” The older man had a serious light in his eyes as he looked down at Ranboo, his lips pursed and his hands clenched at his sides. Ranboo averted his gaze, and Sapnap seemed to pick up on the fact. “I’m sorry. Do you not like eye contact?” The tension faded from his body as he sheepishly scratched at his nape.

“I...I’m half enderman, so not really,” Ranboo laughed, reaching a tentative hand out for the dish. Sapnap let him take it with a small smile on his face, and watched as Ranboo dug in. 

“It’s really good,” he eventually said, placing the spoon back on the plate. “I never knew Dream was so good at cooking.” He had intended to say that part only to himself, but Sapnap caught it and narrowed his eyes. Augh. Just his luck.

“What’s that mean?” He quietly asked, and Ranboo shrunk back. “Do you know Dream? Or... knew him?”

“I — Well, I just -” With a heavy sigh, Ranboo dragged his hands down his face. He couldn't run away from this situation. “Will you promise not to tell anyone? And at least to hear me out?” Sapnap blinked at him, crossing his arms.

“I promise I won’t tell,” he said easily. “This secret doesn’t leave this room.”

Sapnap was a man of his word, Ranboo hazily recalled. He was never one to break a promise, was reliable and kind and loyal. This secret would be safe with the man who had been taking care of him for the last day.

Surprisingly, the words spilled from his mouth easily. “I’m from the future, I think. I - sometimes I go into this state that I call enderwalking, where I just kind of do stuff, it’s like sleepwalking, but when I wake up I can’t remember anything and my memory is already kind of trash anyway and — “

“Woah, woah, hold on,” Sapnap interrupted, waving his hands in the air. “Slow down for a minute, man. You’re from the future?”

“Go ahead and shout it louder so that everyone can hear,” Ranboo grumbled, fidgeting with the blanket, and Sapnap muttered an apology. “Yeah, I… I think I am. I know you all from then.” 

“So Dream…” 

Ranboo remained stubbornly silent. There was no need to confirm or deny anything that would cause Sapnap stress now, and his being here was already enough of a mistake. Though if he was here, he ought to do something about it all - he ought to prevent all that trauma from occurring ever again. Mindlessly, his hand raised to touch the ring on his horn, relieved to find that it was still there.

Sapnap watched him quietly. It was almost unsettling, how observant he was, and how Ranboo had never noticed it before. He supposed that Sapnap had to be - he was always the watchman, a warden at the prison for some time, a hired bodyguard for some other, and furiously protective as well. Though they hadn’t spent much time beyond the treasure hunt, it made sense.

“Do you want a necklace for that?” He eventually asked. Ranboo blinked a few times, confused. “It seems precious to you. You shouldn’t put it in a place so easy to see, you know? You need to protect what’s precious to you.”

What’s precious to me? It slowly dawned on him that unless he could figure out how to go back to his own time, he would never see Tubbo -  _ his  _ Tubbo - or Michael again. And if he was altering the timeline simply by arriving early, it meant that they might not even find Michael at all. The thought made him quite sick, but he put that aside for now. “A necklace would be nice.”

Without another word, Sapnap left the room, presumably on his way to get a cord. Ranboo slipped his wedding band off his horn and turned it in between his fingers. 

_ What’s precious to me… _

He couldn't afford to stay uninvolved anymore.


End file.
